We are no longer on the run. *It reaches out to unbutton my shirt. As my scales are bared, it doesn't avert its eyes.* This house is ours, now. Our choice of furniture, paint, temperature. There are no humans in this far corner of the universe. No humans to take away what we've made. *It brushes its claws against my back. Hard claws against hard scales. A soft gesture. I lean into its touch.* We talk. We reminisce, plan for the future. Laugh, loud, that screeching sound that damages human ears reclaimed, turned into an expression of joy. *I bite its shoulder. It hisses with pleasure. Loud. I sink my teeth in harder.* We are almost new people, out here, without humans. Every day we relax more, become more ourselves. Every day we fall in love again. *It kisses me on the mouth, down my neck, all the way down my body. I let go. I arch my head back. I let myself feel. Its forked tongue flickers against the nubs on my thighs.* We think about humans less. What they might have wanted from us. How to change to fit their expectations. We think about each other more. *The sun falls across its chest. I watch the way its scales iridesce as it squirms under me, shimmering in time with its short breaths.* *In this moment, we are the only two who matter.*